Quarry
by Katt-Chan217
Summary: After the battle with the Omega Supreme clones in Detroit, Optimus Prime is introduced to new technology that will help him and his team better understand human customs and life. Although, just as the Decepticon threat diminishes a new threat arises.
1. Prologue

Hey guys! Here's that crossover fic I've _FINALLY _gotten around to submitting! You (and I) have waited for so long, and now at long last the story begins! (*20th Century Fox music starts playing*) As an added note this is my first crossover fan-fic, so I hope you guys enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I own no recognisable characters!

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><p>Survival. She could not really focus on much else. Her own survival and the survival of her accomplices were her main focus. She didn't even acknowledge the cold, icy wind nipping at her face, barely even computed half of her surroundings, and only ran in one direction: forward. Away from the double-jawed menace behind her.<p>

She half-computed a source of shelter before her and quickly dove into it. For the first time throughout this venture, despite having been trapped inside a constantly shifting pyramid, Lex felt completely trapped and defenseless. She was unarmed and—although her make-shift shelter kept her enemy at bay—under the alien's strength, her shelter creaked and jerked in ways that made Lex doubt the stability of her new shelter. In addition to its strength, the alien—despite its large size—was also fast. If she tried to sneak past it away from her shelter, the alien would surely catch her. On the other hand, if the alien didn't notice her, maybe she would be able to get by, but just when Lex was beginning to contemplate the very idea, the alien's visage crept into view above her as it pushed the water reservoir off its supports.

All the fighting, all the struggling, it seemed like such a wasted effort in the face of the alien Queen. Lex's body suddenly grew rigid. She began to embrace the inevitable.

She detected a flicker of movement in her peripheral vision. The flickering form became clearer as if morphed into view. She began to register the flailing of sleek, black locks rooted to the back of a slightly elongated face with deep sunken eyes and mandibles flaring outward in fury. Its body twisted in mid-air and thrust a spear into the alien's skull with near-death precision.

The Queen shrieked and Lex's senses were revived. Just as Lex crawled out of her deteriorating shelter, her humanoid champion landed firmly on the ground before her, his mandibles flaring and eyes burning at the Queen with new-found rage.

Lex's humanoid champion turned to her. His muddy amber eyes softened and his brows furrowed. A quizzical purr rumbled from deep within his throat.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I'm fine."

The Queen shrieked again, bringing Lex's attention back to annihilating the Queen. Deep brown eyes darted across her surroundings and skidded to a stop at the chain still dangling from the Queen's body and dragging behind her. Lex's gaze then retreated back to her former shelter, noticing the water reservoir beginning to slip off its supports. Her gaze reverted back to the Queen's chain, but her champion had already caught on to what she had begun to ponder.

The Queen's chain already seized in his hands, he began to reel in the massive beast with inhuman strength. Lex grabbed hold of the end of the chain that wasn't already in her champion's hands and started pull at the slack, working towards somehow attaching the chain to the teetering water reservoir.

_Almost there_, she kept thinking, _Almost got it!_

"Got it!" Lex hollered, and not a moment too soon. The supports gave way and the reservoir was just beginning to tumble down the cliff side and into the freezing waters below.

To Lex's dismay, the reservoir stopped falling. The restraints bounding the reservoir to its supports stalled the fall. And that was not all; the Queen's screeching had stopped as well. In its place an agonized roar echoed throughout the empty whaling station. Lex whipped her head towards the source of the sound just in time to see emerald blood come spurting from her companion's abdomen, an ebony spike protruding from the center of the wound.

Lex turned her attention back towards the reservoir and spotted a shovel she could use to pry away the reservoir's restraints. She immediately seized the shovel and wedged its blade between the reservoir and its restraint. No matter how much of her strength she exerted on the shovel, though, the restraints would not budge. Lex dared to sneak a glance back at her wounded friend. He and the Queen were face to face, now, the Queen's jaws parted as far as her jaw hinges would allow. Her friend's mandibles flared outward and a powerful roar rumbled throughout the entire island (or so it seemed) not out of pain or anguish, but of valor, almost as if to challenge the Queen further, daring her to finish him off. She did not hesitate. Luminescent emerald blood stained pure and otherwise untouched, white snow. A once inhumanly strong body went limp.

"SCAR!" Lex jolted forward. A cold sweat soaked her entire body, an icy chill quivered down her spine, her breathing staggered, and her form trembled. As she steadily began to collect herself, Lex reexamined her surroundings. There was no wind, not even a slight breeze, and although it was a bit chilly, this cold was nothing compared to the arctic. Still shaking and not yet completely calm, she dared to spare a glance to her left, but the only image her sight could manage to formulate was a blank, bare wall. Lex sighed, but only a small portion of it was out of relief.

"Dammit," She breathed, grabbing a wad full of her damp ebony curls in each hand, "god dammit!" she muttered a little louder, keeling over with renewed tremors reverberating through her body.

"Ms. Woods?" her head snapped up, her eyes scrutinized the general direction in which the voice came from. "Ms. Woods are you alright?" Lex quickly peeled off the covers, swung her feet over the edge of her cot, and made her way towards the voice. Since her eyes had not yet adjusted to the area, she had to feel along the wall, but at last she felt a small, round extrusion along the wall and pushed down on it with her forefinger.

"Ms. Woo-"

"I'm here." She responded with a much more collected composure, and released the pressure she exerted on the extrusion.

"Are you feeling alright Ms. Woods?" the voice asked, a small, almost inaudible amount of static glazing the voice's concerned intonation. Lex pressed down on the extrusion again.

"Yeah, just another dream." She released the button.

"Would you like some medicine that will help you sleep?" the voice—which Lex just realized had a slight Japanese accent woven into it—urged. Lex paused before pushing the intercom button, again.

"I'd like to go to the weight room, please."

"At this hour? Ms. Woods, you do realize that it is nearly two-thirty in the morning?"

"It'll help me unwind." Lex persisted. There was another pause over the intercom, and Lex began to wonder whether the signal between the two intercoms was cut off.

"As you wish Ms. Woods," the Asian woman sighed, "A Weyland-Yutani official will be there shortly to escort you to the weight room."

"Thank you." Lex responded flatly and then began feeling around the wall for a light switch. She didn't feel like fumbling blindly through her small, spaceless drawers for an extra set of clothes.

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><p>I know I pretty much just re-capped what happened at the end of the first AVP movie, but there's a reason I did that and you all will find out why in due time, because there are <em>PLENTY<em> more chapters to come (as you may have guessed seeing as there wasn't a single bit of Transformers in this bit). And yes, I know that in the AVP movies "Weyland Industries" and "Yutani Industries" were considered two different companies, you'll see why I have it as one company in this fic soon enough, but I think you guys are smart enough to guess why they're stated as one company in this fic.

Of the few people I showed this to (like people I know outside the internet) for editing reasons, I've been told that this was a good start, but I wanna know what _you_ guys think! Tell me how you like this so far, cuz as I said, there is plenty more in store!


	2. Abduction

Hey guys, sorry for the wait, things got a little busy back at home due to the end of the school year. Not to mention that I'm moving all my stuff from the top story of my house all the way to the very lower story of the house...bleh...plus arranging to see the new Transformers movie (SO EXCITED). But excuses aside, enjoy the first chapter!

**WARNING:** Many definitions afoot!

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><p>Vozic—of, or deriving from, the city of Voz. In my fan-fictions (as well as in a fan-fiction called <em>The Brat Prince of Voz<em>), Voz is referred to as an ancient city that was wiped out during the first Great War of Cybertron (the one that took place before TFA began) in which its citizens comprised of seekers and/or flyers.

Astrosecond= .273 seconds

Orbital Cycle= 1 Earth Day

Light-peded—light footed. A "pede" refers to a Cybertronian foot

Seeker—a flying Cybertronian (usually a Decepticon) with wings. Google "Starscream" for a visual reference (but be sure to add "Transformers Animated" somewhere in there to get a visual for what a seeker might look like in TFA as well as in this fan-fiction)

Sparkling—Cybertronian baby. In some TFA fics, writers will also refer to Cybertronian babies as "Protoforms," but I see protoforms more as the Cybertronian version of a fetus, because protoforms do not yet have any modifications or personality set into it, yet. In TFA, it seems as though the portoform is nothing but a sparkles, empty shell until the protoform comes in contact with a DNA sample or some modifications are made to it.

Energon—the main source of energy for Cybertronians. Fans often like to re-incarnate forms of their favorite foods into Energon in order to make Cybertronians' diets more relatable to human audiences, like I did with "Energon candies."

Servo—refers to a Cybertronian hand

Da—translates to "yes" in Russian. In TFA the Jet Twins (referred to as the "Safeguard twins" in this chapter) are voiced with Russian accents, so in order to emphasize some of the cultural differences between the twins and most other Cybertronians, I infuse a little bit of Russian vocabulary in their diction.

Optics—Cybertronian equivalent to an eye.

Lip components—I hope I have no need to define this term, but I will anyway just in case there are some _really_ ignorant people out there. Cybertronian equivalent of lips.

Faceplates—Again, I think this term is pretty self-explanatory, but if not than "faceplates" is the plating along a cybertronian's face.

Optic ridge—Cybertronian equivalent to an eyebrow.

Helm—Cybertronian equivalent to a head.

Adolescebots—A word of my own invention, combining the words "adolescent" and Autobot…guess what it means.

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><p>She had no idea why she was pulled into this. All she knew was that one astrosecond she was sitting quietly in her quarters, looking over ancient Vozic battle strategies that she contemplated executing in her next sparring match, and the next astrosecond the Safeguard twins were dragging her by her servos so vigorously to the head quarters of the Elite Guard's science division she almost needed to ignite her thrusters to ensure that her servos did not become dislodged from the rest of her body.<p>

After much fussing and struggling to wriggle out of the twins' grips, Sunfire asked much more calmly, but still with much venom icing her tone,

"Guys, what are we doing here on the one orbital cycle Sentinel _didn't_ give us any work to do!"

"Mr. Preceptor sir and Mr. Wheeljack sir be having new project for us to be looking at!" Jetstorm chirped, not breaking his light-peded pace.

"What project?" Sunfire spat.

"Is something that could be of using to Optimus Prime sir!" Jetstorm's orange counterpart tweeted.

"Then why are we here!" Sunfire hollered, mild annoyance now boiling into sizzling rage.

"Optimus Prime sir tell us to be looking at it for him while he be visiting the Earth planet." The two of them sang in unison, still as buoyant as newly assembled sparklings given a life-time supply of Energon candies.

"Since when does Optimus Prime give us orders? We're not a part of his—" Sunfire was cut off when her faceplates were unexpectedly greeted by the floor of their destination.

"Mr. Wheeljack sir, Jetfire and Jetstorm reporting for duty." The twins droned in sync, servos either at their sides or raised to their helms in salute.

"Thanks for the warning, by the way." Sunfire bitterly spat under her breath as she rose to dust herself off.

A quizzical grunt emitted behind a flurry of sparks. The sparks ceased cascading for a moment, and a pair of armored spectacles that obscured any form of optic contact emerged into view where the sparks once were.

"Huh?" bright neon blue beacons flashed on either side of the spectacles, which were then removed by thick-digited, but still deft, servos.

"'Fire! 'Storm! Good to see you bots!" the beaconed Autobot beamed, his lip components shielded from view by a single plate that swerved over the lower half of his faceplates, beacons blinking and flickering to follow up every syllable that boomed out his vocal processors. Motioning towards Sunfire, the 'bot added, "and good to see you, too, uh…um…"

"Sunfire," the seeker interjected.

"Right, right! Good to see you." The Autobot replied absently. "So," he started, his attention now fully on the Safeguard twins, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Mr. Wheeljack sir, you are having the pretend project, da?" Jetstorm inquired; Sunfire was sure that, if his optics were visible behind his cerulean visor, they would be glittering with sparkling-like wonder.

"Uuh…What?" Wheeljack arched an optic ridge.

"The pretending project." His brother ushered. Wheeljack turned to Sunfire, his optics begging for clarification. Ordinarily, the task of translating the twins' broken Cybertronian was usually forwarded to Jazz, but since his presence was currently lacking at the moment, the task was informally forwarded to Sunfire.

"I don't know." She shrugged, "they just dragged me here going on about Optimus Prime wanting us to look at some project you and Preceptor were working on while he was on Earth." Wheeljack's optics reverted to the floor, but it was obvious enough that his gaze was far beyond the floor that was merely slabbed together by scrap metal and then welded solely for the sake of having a solid surface for the scientists to work on. His forefinger and thumb grazed his jaw repeatedly while he mulled over the various projects he and his partner had presented to whom.

"Oh!" Wheeljack boomed, his beacons radiating ten times brighter than their original hue, gaze reverted back to the adolescebots with wide optics.

"Follow me!" Wheeljack quickly spun on the heels of his pedes and motioned towards a path only known to Wheeljack.

After maneuvering through winding corridors and cluttered laboratories, Wheeljack had led the three fly-bots to Preceptor's workspace.

The whole complex—the walls, the floor, everything—was littered with the inner workings of various machines, contraptions, and unfinished projects. Although at first glance it looked as though an entire Autobot army had just been mercilessly blown to minuscule, irreparable bits, when examined more scrupulously, Sunfire could see interconnecting contraptions that doubled her own and the Safeguard twins' sizes put together, webs of wires intricately woven into one another, elaborately interlocking ports and plugs whose delicately entwined cords shrouded the floor like an untamed vineyard. The complex, itself, was an ever-entwining nest that housed and nurtured treasured mechanics, precious codes, and cherished data.

"Hey Perc!" Wheeljack hollered through constantly shifting and processing machinery.

"Preceptor!" he hollered again. Preceptor then steadily shifted his attention to his partner and his young accomplices, his helm—usually bare of unnecessary contraptions and accessories—littered with an excessive amount of spectacles of different sizes shapes, and consistencies.

Sorry for leaving you guys hanging with another cliff-hanger, but really, what else will keep you interested? XD lol.

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><p>Also, I know what you may be thinking "She put an OC in this? What a waste of a good crossover!" Please have patience with me and Sunfire. I have no intention in defiling not one, but two awsome franchises with a mary-sue. And, for those of you who read my TFA fan-fic <em>Instantiation<em>, you might be thinking "What happened to Sunfire? This isn't what she was like in that other fan-fic! And why the sudden faction change?" Worry not. I admit I did hope to continue her story before posting this, but with school, a new job, and a family to help out...well, needless to say that I've been a little pressed for time. Hell, it's taken me at least _SIX MONTHS_ for me to post the prologue of _this_ fan-fic. But I'm getting off-subject. For those of you who have read _Instantiation_ and are wondering what happened to Sunfire, don't worry. I plan to explain that. Just bare with me please! D:

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, what did you guys think? Don't be afraid to share your thoughts with me. Just be sure that if you are going to criticize, please let it be _constructive criticism_.

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Hasbro**

**Sunfire (c) me**


	3. Consideration

OH MY GLOP GUYS! I'M SO SORRY FOR SUCH A LATE POST! College life can be a bit of a bitch when you have family stuffs to take care of, plus two jobs, plus school staff not doing what they're supposed to be doing, plus getting real sick and stuffs!...I'm sorry. I thought I'd have this done by the beginning of the semester, but life took over...I'm sorry. I hope y'all enjoy! :D

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><p>Decacycle= I'm going to guess 10 weeks<p>

**::Text of this format means dialogue through a comm. link!::**

**WARNING: **Transformers Prime reference (one of which will be explained in future chapters), city people language (that made me have to raise the rating of this fic, and we haven't even see any blood yet D: )

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><p>Optimus' mind wandered back to the new technology that Preceptor and Wheeljack had presented to him before he and his team departed for Earth. "Project Pretender" he believed they called it. The idea was to link his and his teammates' processors to the blank processors of miniature androids that took on the appearance of humans using technology similar to what is used in a cortical psychic patch. Its purpose was to learn more about human customs and behavior in explicit detail via usage of these Pretender androids.<p>

As intriguing as the concept sounded, Optimus politely declined their offers allowing his team to test the androids, feeling that he and his team already had a pretty good feel for human culture.

"Aw c'mon Optimus!" Wheeljack pleaded, "Don't make me get Ratchet on your case about it." The scientist teased.

"I doubt Ratchet would be any more enthusiastic about this project than I am." Optimus replied, "A virtual human body was already torture enough for him." Wheeljack cackled at what he thought was Optimus' attempt at humor when really the statement was about as serious as an outbreak of the Cybonic plague, and quite frankly Optimus was not any more enthusiastic about returning to a human form—physical or virtual—than Ratchet would be.

"But in all seriousness, Optimus," the beaconed scientist ushered.

"Wheeljack," Optimus interrupted, "I appreciate the offer, and I'm happy to see you excited about learning more about the humans, but I don't think that my team necessarily needs this technology." Wheeljack's shoulder plating, recently hunched in excitement, drooped defeatedly. "We've been on Earth for a while. I think we've got a pretty good idea of what human culture is like. I mean, sure, we still have a lot to learn," on that note, Wheeljack's optics lit up again, a new, solid argument twinkling in his hungry optics and just about ready to spew from his masked lip components.

"Tell you what," Optimus started before giving Wheeljack the chance to trap him in an unshakable argument that would have most likely ended in Wheeljack's favor, "I'll think about it. I'll find somebot to look at any preliminary information we'll need to know while my team is stationed on Earth." Optimus left without waiting for a response from the scientist, for fear of becoming entangled in his nest of pleas for reconsideration.

That was approximately a decacycle before Optimus had departed for Earth. He had not yet told the rest of his team for the same reason he would not exchange his battle axe for a plasma cannon. A plasma cannon was nice and certainly had its advantages in the war front, but there was no need for such an exchange. His battle axe was more versatile, better suited his style of combat and was a much more ideal mechanism for the task at hand, which, at the moment, was helping the humans rebuild Detroit after his team's last great battle with the Omega Supreme clones.

Although the incident took place more than two stellar cycles ago, the battle unfortunately resulted in more severe, widespread damage to the city than any other battles that had commenced on Earth. This brought another factor to Optimus' attention. It had been two stellar cycles—two _stellar cycles_—since the last Earth-bound Decepticon battle, and, although there were still Decepticon forces scattered throughout the far reaches of the universe, there had still been very few Decepticon threats or uprisings since Megatron had been brought to the stockade. If there was ever a time to test Project Pretender, now would have been that time.

The sound of a collision snapped Optimus from his reverie. He broke his attention away from his current work and turned to examine the source of the sound. Once he found it, he inwardly regretted it and mentally cursed himself for choosing to work so close the one of Detroit's main highways. Optimus was just about to assist the driver that had so recently collided with his pede, when the driver came scrambling from the opening in his vehicle that once served as a door. The driver examined the colossal damage that had been inflicted on his vehicle with bulging, bloodshot eyes and mouth agape. He turned to Optimus with all the rage of a territorial predacon ready to charge at its invader.

"What the hell, man!" the human roared as loud as his vocal cords could manage—which was surprisingly loud, even by Optimus' standards. "The hell you think you're doing!"

"I am so sorry, sir." Optimus apologized, "Would you like me to assist you in moving your vehicle to-"

"Do you have any idea how much crap I have to deal with from my bullshit insurance because of this?" The human's ordinarily tan pigment was now flushed red in raw, unadulterated rage. With a quivering finger, the human jabbed the digit forth with such force that it almost looked as though he was attempting to incite more lethal damage to the metallic titan by doing so. "More importantly, do you have any idea what kinda equipment I'm carrying in here?" The human stormed towards his treasured vehicle and practically ripped open the door that Optimus thought to have lead to more passenger seats. His optics widened and his mouth went slightly agape when Optimus saw the interior of the human's vehicle to be teeming with technology that might have suggested that the human had established a mobile laboratory of some sort.

"I humbly apologize, sir." The metallic titan stammered, "I'm sure-"

"You," the human interrupted, once again, "you are _so_ lucky that half of this stuff is still intact. If any of my equipment had been damaged, you would have been in shit so deep that even _you'd_ be in over your head!"

Though Optimus could not deter the meaning of all of those words—for he had never heard Sari use any of those words, and for some strange reason that he could not specify at the moment, he hoped he never did—it was clearly evident that the enraged human would not cease his verbal attacks until something was done about the damage inflicted on his precious vehicle.

"S-sir?" Optimus started, but that did not stop the human from continuing his verbal foray, "Sir, please just allow me to move your vehicle to the side of the road until-"

"I don't want you touching my van!" the human roared, "I don't want any of you overgrown tin-men touching my van! In fact," the human dove into the back end of his vehicle, almost losing his straw fedora in the process, and pulled out a large black case about as large as the very human carrying it. "I was ganna do this once I pulled in downtown, but since I'm ever-so-conveniently parked _here_," the human continued, spitting any amount of venom and sarcasm into his tone he could manage while he pulled out a mechanism that Sari once described to him as a "tri-pod" and something that he had always seen Detroit's reporter-bots use when capturing cinematic imagery of the stories they reported. "I'll just do this scoop _now_!"

Not knowing exactly how to respond to such a predicament, Optimus stood idly by while internally debating over whether he should have tried to handle the situation on his own or contact Sari and ask her to assist him in the matter, and, seeing as he had failed to do anything but aggravate the human further, contacting Sari seemed like the better option.

**::Sari?::** Optimus streamed through a private comm. link with the young half-Cybertronian.

**::Optimus?::** the half-Cybertronian responded.

**::Sari,::** Optimus started, **::I hate to disturb you bu-::**

**::Whoa! This is a comm. link, isn't it? This is so cool!::** Sari interjected, seemingly far more excited about discovering yet another one of her new-found abilities from the Cybertronian half of her genetics. **::Oh, and it's okay,::** the young half-cybertronian quirked, suddenly snapping her focus back to Optimus, **::I'm not doing anything right now. Whaddya need?::** Optimus arched an optic ridge.

**::I thought you and Bumblebee were working on repairing that bridge in downtown Detroit.::** a brief silence followed before a rather uneasy Sari responded with,

**::Eeeexcept for that,::** and then, as though her attention had been averted somehow, began hissing, **::Bumblebee…Bumblebee! Turn it off…Turn off the game! Turn it off!::**

**::I can still hear you, Sari.::**

**::Right! So whaddya need?::** Sari perked up once again with a slight undertone that indicated that she had most likely been doing something that she was not supposed to be doing, but Optimus dismissed that for the time being.

**::Would you mind heading over to my location?::**

**::Sure!...Where's that?::** Optimus did not think it a good idea to send Sari his coordinates due to the fact that he had no idea if her processor would receive them well. Her processor was still partially a human brain, after all.

**::I'll send my coordinates to Bumblebee, and he can guide you from there.::** Optimus responded, quickly disconnecting the comm. link transmission so that he could send his coordinates as quickly as possible. The sooner he sent Bumblebee his coordinates the sooner he'd receive Sari's help.

"Tony Pope here on _Hard Core News_, reporting in on Detroit's 'welfare' after the Autobots—the core reason Detroit has become the shit-hole it is—have come back to Earth to help reconstruct and improve upon its current condition." Optimus heard the human spew into a small, hand-held device that looked like nothing more than a small cylindrical object that just barely fit in the human's hand with a small sphere protruding from the top whilst burning his glare directly into the main lens of his camera, "Ladies and gentlemen, does this look like there's any major improvement going on around here?" he roared into his device that he held in one hand and gestured towards his current surroundings with the other. "Uh-uh! Look at this! Traffic back-up, totaled cars, and a hell of a lot of pissed off civilians!" At this Tony began to turn a deeper shade of red with every syllable he uttered, "Where the hell is the mayor, and why isn't he declaring martial law? If ya ask me, these walking matchbox cars should just stay the hell outta human affairs and take their galactic warfare shit back to their own planet instead of-"

"Hey Asshole!" Another voice barked. Optimus prayed that Sari would be arriving soon. Trying to avoid an argument with a human was one thing, settling an argument between two humans was something entirely different.

"Instead of bitchin' about it all," the other human continued, walking out of his vehicle just as Tony had, "why don't you just move yo' ass outta the godamn road?"

"Hey, I'm a reporter!" Tony snarled back, "I have my rights!"

"Freedom o' Press, huh? What a coincidence! I got Freedom o' Speech, and I'm usin' it to tell you to get the fuck off the road and to save yo' gripin' fo' someone who gives a shit!" The argument only escalated from there to incoherent barking and snarling. Eventually the two humans were not even quarreling over Tony's vehicle anymore and had somehow escalated to the grotesque appearances and low intelligence rates of each others' female creators—how it had done so, Optimus was not quite sure, nor did he understand the relativity of the matter.

Much to Optimus' displeasure, human traffic was backing up and the scene began to attract more attention by the astrosecond—though, perhaps it served him right for not strategizing his construction plan more to the humans' benefit. He just hoped that no more humans would walk away from their vehicles and help to escalate the human fight further. Many of them were already yelling from the interiors of their vehicles and those who were not yelling were letting various noises of their vehicles harmonize the chaotic choir of the area with revving engines and honking horns.

Then, as if a blessing from Primus had beamed itself into the palm of his servos, Optimus heard the familiar chatter of his two (well, one and a half) youngest Autobots on his team.

"So, you think that Boss Bot'll let me-?" the yellow compact chimed.

"On repair duty? Not a chance!" the pig-tailed half-cybertronian giggled.

"Sari!" Optimus yelled, but then quickly collected himself so as to seem at least a little bit collected. "Um, glad to see that you could make it."

"Sure thing, Prime." Sari chirped, steadily hovering closer to the ground before deactivating her jetpack. "Did something happen?"

"Dude!" Bumblebee exclaimed, quickly transforming to his bipedal form, "What didn't happen to this thing?"

"Hey! You get the hell away from my van!" Tony hollered, his attention suddenly snapping back to his vehicle before Bumblebee even got the chance to extend a single digit towards it. Bumblebee's optics suddenly looked as though they were about to pop out of his sockets.

"Whoa! You're Tony Pope, from _Hard Core News_! Can I get your autograph?"

"I'm not giving you shit, you walking piece of tin!" Tony raged, storming closer to his precious vehicle. Bumblebee cocked back, an expression of offense and annoyance inscribed on his faceplates.

"You coulda just said 'no.' Jeez, what got stuck up your rear axel?"

"I did." Optimus intervened, earning rather confused grimaces from Bumblebee and Sari, who had just convinced Tony's highway rival to return to his own vehicle. "What I mean is that my pede accidentally collided with this man's vehicle while I was helping to reconstruct a nearby structure." Sari whipped her head around, a look of astonishment and fury distorting her facial features, but not towards Optimus. When Sari began storming towards Tony, Optimus started to think that perhaps asking for Sari's assistance was not the wisest of decisions.

"What is your problem?" Sari shrieked.

"It's alright Sari. This man has every right to be angry with me." Optimus quickly assured in order to ease the ever-growing tension.

"No he doesn't!" Sari squealed, "This crank-case should have been paying attention to where he was driving! Oh, and just so you know," the miniature half-cybertronian continued, her attention now directly targeted at the fuming journalist, "if you bothered to drive at the _speed limit_ you would have seen the huge blinking sign that said 'Warning: Autobot construction ahead. Mind your speed and prepare for sudden stops!'" waving her arms to further emphasize the size of the sign, Sari was screaming so loudly Optimus almost thought he heard static distorting her vocal processors…or cords…or whatever it was that she possessed. It was true that the local human construction establishment was kind enough to donate an electronic road sign for their construction, but until this incident Optimus did not believe that it would have been necessary, so he placed it closer to where Bulkhead was working. That was not very far, but Optimus thought that perhaps if he had brought the sign closer to his own construction sight, this whole episode could have been avoided.

"Sari-"Optimus started, but stopped when he felt a nudge at his side.

"A little advice Boss Bot," Bumblebee whispered into his superior's audios once he had his attention, "_never_ intervene in a fight when an angry femme is involved. It's better off for everyone if you just wait it out."

"But this fight—whether it involves a femme or not—is not helping this man get his car fixed or out of the middle of the road." Optimus hissed.

"Why don't ya just tow it out?"

"I offered, but it only seemed to make matters worse." Bumblebee opened his mouth, but before any words could expel from his vocal processors, a siren whaled out of yellow compact car—the same model as Bumblebee's alt mode—that came racing down the shoulder of the congested highway. Once the car screeched to a stop, a small, black leather encased pede sent the door to the vehicle flying open as far as its hinges could manage before inertia brought it slamming back into the unsuspecting human's face. Now even more disgruntled, the human stomped out of his vehicle and slammed the door shut with as much force as his large arms could manage.

Optimus was not pleased that he had to deal with yet another angry human, but relief soon settled in his racing spark when he found that this human was at least a little more familiar. The man had large arms and even larger upper build supported by two short, sturdy legs. The sides of his head adorned bushy mats of blonde hair—slightly pale from age—and the top of his head was crowned with wet strands of blonde hair clinging to whatever areas that lacked any form of hair growth. A large nose—now wrinkled in aggravation—sheltered more bushy hair protruding over his upper lip.

"Aw'right, someone wanna tell me what the heck is goin' on here?" The familiar man roared. "I got reports of a speeding Chevy Cargo Van and a highway backed up all the way to Timbuktu!" At this, Tony retreated from his argument with Sari, making a dash for the man.

"Thank God you're here, officer!" Tony turned and thrust his forefinger in Optimus' direction, "This overgrown tin-can, here, put his foot smack in the middle of the road! Look at my van! It's ruined because of him!" Tony raged. The man's scowl deepened.

"J'you bother lookin' at the great big sign at the side of the road, back there?" Tony's jaw dropped. He was dumbfounded. "I dunno about you," the man continued, "but big ol' blinkin' sign kinda screams 'important' to me!"

"I don't believe this!" Tony whaled. The man ignored him.

"Want my advice? You either let these guys help you out," the man motioned towards Optimus and Bumblebee, "Or you can call a cab and a tow truck, and I'd suggest you hurry and make up your mind. I don't know about LA where you usually work, but here, people don't exactly like it when you take up more lanes of traffic than you need to, standin' around here." Tony's features contorted into a scowl of his own before stomping back to his damaged vehicle. Optimus guessed that he was going to look for the mobile communications device that Sari called a "cell phone."

After the dispute with Tony was somewhat settled, the man made sure that proper traffic flow arrangements were made so that other humans could pass through more easily. Eventually, a tow truck came for Tony's vehicle, highway congestion cleared away completely (or as much as the average Detroit highway allowed), and Optimus; Bumblebee; and Sari were able to refer back to their construction work.

"I appreciate the help Captain Fanzone." Optimus said, as the man turned to head back to his own vehicle. He stopped and turned back to Optimus.

"Don't take what Tony Pope said back there too personally. It's his job to act like there's something wrong with anything and everything. He just doesn't know when to call it quits."

"Well, perhaps I shouldn't have been working so close to human traffic."

"Nah, this time, it was all him. He saw the sign, but if we really wanted to get technical about it, you could count as a pedestrian, which we human drivers are supposed to yield to, anyway." Optimus gave Fanzone a respectful nod before they both turned away and back to their previous occupations. Optimus heard the creaking of Fanzone's vehicle door before it slammed shut, but before Fanzone's vehicle trudged down the highway, a soft whine of a rolling window pierce the air.

"I'm not sayin' you _shouldn't_ be careful. I don't wanna have to do this too much, or the citizens of Detroit'll really have a cow." Fanzone advised. Though Optimus did not quite understand how any repeats of this incident had anything to do with a sudden influx of livestock, he gave Fanzone a respectful nod over his shoulder, anyway.

"Understood." Optimus replied. At that, Fanzone was gone.

Perhaps Optimus had a lot more to learn about human culture than he had previously realized.

* * *

><p>OMG IT'S FINALLY DONE! I was not expecting to be working on this chapter for so long! XP<p>

So was it worth the wait? I certainly hope so. Either way, it's gotta be better than getting another short cliff-hanger, like the ones I had been teasing you guys with, right? Again, I feel horrible for leaving you guys in the dark for so long. Since I'm taking the next semester off, I should be able to have more time to work on this. Until the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed this, anyway!


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